I have missed a trick somewhere here with the Kayak lure fishing. I really did not have any idea how big Kayak angling was in the UK until a recent trip to a Quantum Specialist UK supported event the “Llangorse Kayak Angling British Championship”.
On a very windy Saturday in March 57 Kayak anglers set out onto Llangorse Lake to chase down the predator species with lures and bait. I did not compete but was there to see what the competitive side of Kayak Angling is all about. It did not take long for me to see how series these guys take it and what kind of money they invest into their tackle and kayaks. Speaking to a few of the Hobie Kayak boys and Shimano staffer Matt Boast a decent angling specific kayak fitted with power pole, electronics and the accompanying never ending accessories options that come with the different kayaks you could easily spend up to £5000-£7000 on just your kayak set up. Looking around I could see a fair few kayaks that were pretty much fully kitted out so it looks as though the average kayak angler has at least some form of depth finder on their Kayak of choice. Having said that you could also go relatively cheap and get a basic model for around £500 with some of the basic accessories.
Cost aside what is starting to really appeal to me about Kayak Lure Fishing is the accessibility you can get to waters that do not normally allow boat angling. I have heard a lot of the kayak anglers talking about how more and more waters are opening their doors to allow Kayak Lure fishing. To all those decision makers well done you have my thumbs up, long may the trend continue. I could just see myself paddling down a canal or river in search of giant perch or monster pike or even fly fishing on a trout reservoir from one of these and given there is not many waters in the UK that an angler can actually launch a full sized boat from or need to launch a full sized boat from I can only see the popularity of Kayak lure fishing growing from strength to strength.
The Llangorse Kayak Angling British Championship was very well attended with 60+ anglers registered to fish with the idea of raising money for HOW (Heroes on Water) charity. The weather forecast was not in favour of the anglers and forced the start time to be pushed back to 11 am and end early as the wind picked up leaving the anglers with 3 hrs of competition time. The weather did not put them off even when one poor chap who had his kayak flipped in the heavy gusts of wind they carried and determined to get a result.
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It was a tough day for the Kayak Lure Anglers as I understand the damage was done on dead baits. Below is a copy of the report from Edward Gibson chairman of the SWKA ( South Wales Kayak Anglers)
“First of all i would like to thank all of you for supporting the British championship kayak angling predator hunt on Llangorse Lake. The weather didnt play fair with us but we did manage to get a small window to launch which saw 57 anglers take to the water and 18 catch returns handed back in with some nice fish on them.
I would also like to give a special thanks To Gus at Escape Watersports, Raymarine, Palm Equipment and also Quantum specialists for their support and very Generous prizes.
Total amount Raised for Heroes on the water is £1042.00
1st Michael Harpur. 237 cm 3 Pike £150 Escape Watersports & Trophy
2nd Lars Lundberg. 201 cm 3 Pike £100 Escape Watersports & Trophy
3rd Ian Pickering. 121 cm 2 Pike £50 Escape Watersports & Trophy
4th Alistair Cole . 105cm 2 Pike Selection of Battleshad Lures, Quantum
Specialists
5th Matt Boast 90 cm 1 Pike, 2 Perch
6th Kelvin Morris 89.5 cm 1 Pike
7th Grant Harris 87.5 cm 1 Pike
8th MarK Radcliffe 81 cm 1 Pike
9th Neil Whitehead 73 cm 1 Pike
10th Nathan Evans 69.5 cm 1 Pike
11th David Morris 66 cm 1 Pike
12th Dane Wood 65.5 cm 1 Pike
13th Steven Tibbenham 56 cm 1 Pike
14th Mark Hewitson 54 cm 1 Pike
15th Chris Aspinal 53 cm 1 Pike
16th Simon Adams 52 cm 1 Pike
17th Paul Foster 50 cm 1 Pike.
18th Danny Kilcullen 41.5 cm 2 perch.
Kelvin Morris won the Raymarine Dragonfly 5pro with the largest Pike
Paul Foster won a Quantum Shogun Rod for catching the smallest Pike on the Lure.
Team Competition
1st SWKA
Michael Harpur, Jamie Samual and Kelvin Morris 326.5
2nd, Hobie.
Matt Boast, Rob Appleby and Lars Lundberg 291.00
3rd, Ocean Kayak
Dane wood, Keith Ward and Ian Pickering 186.5
4th Jackson
Jackson,
Sam Baxter, Mark Radcliffe and Martin Collinson 81.00
5th HOW
Neil Whitehead, Liam and Graham, 73.00
Thanks once again for the tremendous support the sponsors and entrants showed us this year, hopefully we can beat the figure next year and get you better weather.
Many thanks
Ed Gibson
Chairman of South Wales Kayak Anglers”.
It was also great for me to catch up with Daniel Brackley and Gary Palmer who were on hand supporting the guys in the Kayaks as well as having a few casts themselves.
Whilst I have been considering a full sized boat for some time now I see a lot of benefits of having a kayak on the UK waters and am really considering the options available on the market that will give me even more options to cast lures.
For more information on the SWKA you can visit their official website by clicking : Here
